Two County Positions Open Up

The Kimball County Commissioners accepted two resignations at their Tuesday meeting on October 3.

The first was from Zeb Brown, assistant county buildings and ground superintendent. Brown gave his two-week notice on Sept. 27.

He has performed custodian services at the courthouse since November 2022. He has accepted a position in the Kimball County Sheriff’s Office. Brown’s employment in the sheriff’s office will be as a dispatcher and jailer.

The other resignation was for the recently filled veteran’s service officer position that was held by Jim Watkins. Watkins resigned effective Sept. 29. Watkins began his employment in the veteran’s office on Sept. 12.

The quarterly report from the sheriff’s office documents 832 sheriff’s calls for service, including 463 reported 911 calls. Third-quarter persons arrested/booked was 55, while the number for second-quarter persons arrested/booked was 34. Therefore, inmate days are almost 100 days higher in the third quarter with 782 inmate days, while the second quarter tallied 671 inmate days.

Sheriff Dave Hottell reported that the Farmers Day celebration created a busy weekend for his department.

Courthouse security and courtroom access have been a concerning issue for Hottell. Shortly after he took office, he requested that the sheriff’s department have control and authorization of the key cards for the annex, courthouse, and sheriff’s department to maintain security.

The issue has been revisited numerous times, but now a policy is in the works to assure that the sheriff’s office will be in charge of security and key cards. The NCIC computer will be secured, and no unauthorized personnel will be authorized to be in sensitive locations. There is no master card key access.

Other county updates were from KCTS, the visitors center and the roads department.

KCTS reported that $435,216 federal tax dollars were brought into Kimball from July 1 through Sept. 15. Also, $106,721 state tax dollars were brought into the county. KCTS has received about $60,000 for advertisements on boards and vehicles, and this money is used as matching funds for grants.

Two of the Denver International Airport vans are “wrapped” with logos and ready to be put into service, while the other one is getting wrapped. The remaining two vans will arrive in Kimball in the next two weeks.

Karen Morrison and Kim Sharples were appointed and ratified to the Visitors Committee. The visitors center continues to be busy and will remain open for October.

The commissioners discussed the installation of a time clock for county employees, citing accountability. Time clocks were tried for a short time, but officials said they didn’t work because employees had to clock in at different sites, road shops, the annex, transit building, sheriff’s department, and the courthouse.

Finally, the commissioners went into executive session to discuss the work improvement plan for Steve Warner, the county building and grounds supervisor.